Meet some of the Mater Fundraising Challenge's past entrants
Terrie Cetinich
“I decided one day I needed something to do and wanted to give back to the community. I decided to hold a fundraising dinner and chose the Mater Children’s Hospital as the beneficiary."
Blessed with five healthy children I looked at my fundraising in two ways; firstly I was lucky that God had given me five children that were healthy and I knew that there was a need in the community to help those less fortunate than myself who had children injured or dying in hospital."
My second motivation was that I knew that if anything happened to my family then the Mater Children’s would be my first stop.”
Natalie and Graham Lang
“Our main reason for taking part in the challenge was to give something back to the hospital that saved our daughter Grace’s life. Initially we had a goal of $3,000 but really had no idea how much we could raise and the family put together an action plan to reach our target."
Our first step was to use the Everyday Hero website to create a fundraising page and we emailed it to all our friends and family. In the first month, our webpage raised over $1,000 online."
We used all the tips in the challenge starter kit—we sold Miracle MaX merchandise, and Mater Prize Home tickets, and rallied a team for the 5ks walk-a-thon. We decided to also hold one main fundraising event—a ladies lunch at a near by French restaurant."
We were not in the challenge to earn the prize at the end and actually and felt uneasy accepting it, so we bought gifts for the staff in the hospital and made hampers to thank them for their support.”
The Freeman Family – Stephanie, Jenna, Ben and Sam
“We spent six weeks in the Neonatal Critical Care Unit at the Mater Mother’s Hospital when we were born. Together with our two younger brothers, we decided to raise money for the unit that helped us so much in the first weeks of our life."
We have been fundraising for two-and-a-half years and as well as running stalls at our local shopping centre selling Miracle MaX merchandise we also organised and held a sponsored swim event."
Held at our local swimming club, we asked four Olympic swimmers to donate incentive prizes for participants, and they also donated a framed print of the Australian Swim Team to be raffled."
Our experience has been great. We have gained a lot of experience and knowledge through organising events, talking to people and being organised.”
Brisbane North Institute of TAFE
“The Blended Learning Solutions unit at Brisbane North Institute of TAFE (BNIT) raises money for Mater Little Miracles. In 2009 we organised a Mother’s Day Market and asked staff to provide items for sale including hand made jewellery, craftwork, plants and tasty homemade treats."
It was such a successful event in our first year and everyone who participated in the event was so supportive. Plus the market gave our staff an opportunity to showcase their out-of-work talents in gardening, cooking and crafts and provided an opportunity for social networking, while caring for our community in a fun and relaxing way.”